This invention relates to the technical sector of gearboxes for motor vehicles.
More particularly, the invention concerns the means of the drive chain enabling transmission of the movements of a control lever or other activating device of a gearbox, notably for shifting gears.
In particular, this control means, known by the general term of selector, cooperates with a recess that has a crosspiece fixed in one axis to move a fork for effecting the movement of a sliding sleeve for shifting gears. The selector is subject to any appropriate control mechanism, for example to a control bar connected to the gear lever or suchlike. These arrangements are not described in detail because they are perfectly well known to a person skilled in the art and are likely to form the object of different variants.
The invention lies with the selector, which constitutes a part of the device for transmitting as such a movement for shifting the different gears.
According to the state of the art, a selector is made directly by casting, forming a one-piece assembly of considerable mass. Now, in the motor vehicle field, there is a constant desire to make weight savings. Costs are also important, given that investment casting must be used which, nevertheless, does not do away with the need for certain fabrication re-works.
The aim of the invention is to overcome these drawbacks in a simple, certain, effective and rational manner.
The problem that the invention proposes to solve is no longer to create this type of device by investment casting but by using, for part of it, an injected plastics material, bearing in mind that these parts work in aggressive environments, being subjected to high temperatures and vibrations.